The rapid diffusion of Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access and the increasing demand for WLAN coverage is driving the installation of a very large number of Access Points (AP). The most common WLAN technology is described in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers IEEE 802.11 family of industry specifications, such as specifications for IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g and IEEE 802.11a. Other wireless technologies are being developed, such as IEEE 802.16 or WiMAX technology. A number of different 802.11 task groups are involved in developing specifications relating to improvements to the existing 802.11 technology. For example, a draft specification from the IEEE 802.11e Task Group has proposed a set of QoS parameters to be used for traffic between an Access Point and a station. See, e.g., Tim Godfrey, “Inside 802.11e: Making QoS A Reality Over WLAN Connections,” CommsDesign, Dec. 19, 2003. Similarly in Ultra Wideband (UWB) environment, the WiMedia Alliance has published a draft standard, “Distributed Medium Access Control (MAC) for Wireless Networks,” Release 1.0, Dec. 8, 2005.
As another example, a wireless relay network may include a multi-hop system in which end nodes such as mobile stations or subscriber stations (MS/SSs) may be coupled to a base station (BS) or Access Point (AP) via one or more relay stations (RSs). Thus, traffic between MS/SSs and the BS/AP may pass and be processed by the relay stations. The 802.16 Mobile Multi-hop Relay (MMR), referenced in IEEE 802.16 WG, is an example of a set of specifications relating to the relay concept. The MMR specifications include a focus on defining a network system that uses relay stations (RSs) to extend network coverage and/or enhance system throughput. These are a few examples of wireless network specifications, and there are many other technologies and standards being developed.
In a wireless network system without relay stations, a MS/SS may attach to a base station (BS) directly, and therefore, the BS may be aware of the route (i.e., only the one-hop route) to each of the attached MS/SS. However, when a relay station (RS) is introduced between a MS/SS and a BS, the BS may not be able to easily determine a routing path, or communication path between the MS/SS and BS. However, in scenarios such as, for example, centralized scheduling wherein a BS may schedule the resources for traffic transmissions over every segment on a communication path between a MS/SS and the BS, it may be desirable for the BS to be able to obtain or determine information regarding a complete communication path between the MS/SS and the BS. Moreover, it may be desirable for such an obtained or determined communication path to be easily managed and/or updated. Furthermore, it may be desirable to easily determine whether management messages are successfully received and processed by each relay station in a group of relay stations.